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New app helps agents avoid $22,000 fine

01 March 2017 Tim Neary

A seasoned real estate agent has developed an app that will help agents comply with NSW Fair Trading’s guidelines for underquoting and avoid a massive $22,000 fine.

In January 2016, NSW Fair Trading introduced its Underquoting Property Prices Guideline. Under the guidelines, agents must adhere to certain responsibilities regarding price quoting when marketing a property. These responsibilities include both making reasonable estimates and keeping records.

Agents who fail to comply could be slapped with a $22,000 fine.

In response to the new guidelines, Veyron Applications has developed AgentLog, an app that allows NSW real estate agents to record and store details of price discussions they have with potential buyers and sellers.

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“An agent must record the price quoted, the property it is related to, the time, date and phone number,” Veyron Applications director Benjamin Bedford told REB.

“Each record needs to be kept for three years and can be requested by the Office of Fair Trading during an audit. As you can imagine, it is difficult to keep records. This app makes it easy and allows the office they work for see who is recording the information and where.”

Mr Bedford said many agents will admit that they are not doing anything to keep proper records, while others are simply taking screenshots or jotting down their exchanges in a diary.

AgentLog, developed by Australian company Appster, is free to download and costs $10 for each property added. The app allows three agents to be assigned to a single property.